A noise to the left shot her blood pressure up. As it was, her heart pounded her ribs and pain throbbed from stepping on a branch. The sharp edges did a number on her right foot, causing her to favor it when she walked.
Another noise sounded and before she knew it Gabriel was tugging her hand, indicating she should get down. She made herself as small as possible as she followed his lead, crawling through the manicured brush.
A crack sounded. And then another. Bullets?
Kinsley’s heart pounded her chest. Before she knew it, Gabriel was on top of her, covering her.
“Stay low.” His calm, steady voice was quiet in a raging storm. “We’ll be fine.”
His cell buzzed and she could feel it pressed against her side.
He covered the screen and checked the message. “We need to move.”
Belly-crawling in the middle of the night with Gabriel Cooper while some random terror group tried to kill her was not something that she could process.
The air was still. The ground was hard. The pain in her foot was almost debilitating. She felt something cold drip down her heel. Blood? She could deny the injury all she wanted for now but it was going to need attention when this was all over.
Kinsley bit down on her bottom lip and forged ahead.
Another message came and Gabriel checked his phone.
“It’s a bobcat. We can go back to the pool house.” He stood and offered a hand up.
Kinsley took it, ignoring the fissions of heat blasting her skin at contact. She tried to take a step on that bad heel and pain caused her knee to buckle.
Gabriel caught her by the elbow. “Steady there. What’s wrong?”
“We were in a hurry and I didn’t have on shoes. I think I cut my heel pretty bad back there.” She took his arm even though she heard him grunt what sounded like frustration.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?” The words came out clipped. His attitude caught her off guard.
“You were busy saving my life. I didn’t think you’d want to hear me complain about my foot.” Yeah, she’d spit the words out in a huff. What did he expect?
Instead of getting frustrated with her he relaxed his hands. “How are we going to work together if we don’t talk to each other? If I don’t know there’s a problem, I can’t be part of the solution.”
Even though his voice was calm she felt the needles in those words.
“I’m tired. I don’t feel like talking.”
Gabriel cursed under his breath. Kinsley shut down on him again. He’d let her go radio silent in the past. Not this time.
“Too bad. We need to.” Damn. He was letting his temper control his actions. He hadn’t done that since he was a teenager.
There was something about being with Kinsley that brought him back to that place in his life. It wasn’t all bad. He’d fallen for her in that place and not one person since. He’d spent most of his time walking around in that naïve bliss called first love that slapped a silly grin on his face even though nothing in his life had come easy.
Being with Kinsley had washed away getting up at four a.m. before school every morning to clean out stalls in an environment that could only best be described as a Lord of the Flies nightmare when he’d arrived. Gabriel had been a skinny but scrappy ten-year-old when he’d been taken in at the Foster Farm. Harlan Dickeys was the sixteen-year-old bully who ran the place.
Harlan had entertained himself by torturing the boys who were younger and weaker than him. One of those boys had been Gabriel. Gabriel had taken the brunt of Harlan’s brutality because Gabriel defended boys who couldn’t stick up for themselves.
The first six months at the Foster Farm had been tough. Gabriel had learned valuable lessons. For one, if he wanted to beat Harlan waking up early was a good start. Gabriel woke half hour before the others, sneaked out of the dormitory-style bedroom and worked out.
Months passed before he was able to land a decent punch on Harlan. It had taken years before Gabriel had grown strong enough to gain the occasional upper hand. Gabriel couldn’t allow himself to be disheartened then and he sure as hell didn’t allow it now.
All he’d allowed himself to focus on was the progress he’d made and the strength he’d gained. Like everything in life, there’d been a tipping point when Harlan wasn’t the strongest in the dorm anymore, Gabriel was. It had taken years to make that flip happen.
It would’ve been easy for Gabriel to punish his abuser. Gabriel had taken the high ground. He’d been clear that, under no uncertain terms, Harlan was not to touch another boy in the dorm. The other kids had rallied around Gabriel by then and he’d learned a valuable lesson in the strength in numbers.
From that moment on he’d also learned the value of a good leader. Harlan had eventually relented and stopped challenging Gabriel. The older kid slinked into the background the summer before his senior year. It had taken a minute because, hell, Gabriel was far from perfect. But he didn’t leave Harlan there alone to lick his wounds.
Rather than gloat, Gabriel had offered Harlan friendship—a friendship that was still alive today. In fact, if Gabriel was in a bad spot and needed help Harlan would be the first to step up.
Living at the Foster Farm had been hell. Instead of letting that life break Gabriel he’d chosen to use it to become stronger. The boys had developed a bond that made them seem like a gang and they sure as hell had gotten into their fair share of conflicts. No matter what else happened they had each other’s backs.
That code had caused them to develop somewhat of a reputation in town for stirring up trouble. One Kinsley’s father didn’t appreciate associated with his little girl.
Gabriel opened the back door to the pool house
